YouTube, ahh yes, the sanctuary of all makeup tutorials, cheesy relationship advice, stupid pranks and, of course, the Potter Puppets. For some, it is just a nice website to go to if you want to get pulled into the world of others and get your mind off of everything else you might have going on in your life. For others, it is not just a place to watch but also a place to share. It is their outlet.
I am definitely one of those people who uses YouTube as a creative outlet to share with others. Some YouTubers excel in tutorials with anything from makeup to how to fix a car, or some use it to simply talk about their day and what is going on in their lives at that time, and of course let's not forget all of the wonderful music videos.
I was not always like this. I used to be a basic viewer just like you. One day, when I was still in high school, I just woke up and decided it might be a good idea to start a YouTube channel, so that is exactly what I did. This was back in 2013, almost three years ago, and my very first video is so ridiculous that it's humorous. At that time my YouTube channel was not successful because I forgot about it and neglected to make any more videos.
However, something just always intrigued me about making YouTube videos, and the curiosity never left. Once I got into college, I had a good friend who had a YouTube channel, and I just got so excited. I had never met a YouTuber in person before, and I am not going to lie, it felt like I was talking to a celebrity in the making. After watching all of her videos, and guest starring in one, something just clicked, and I decided that I wanted to recreate my channel and make it a priority.
That's exactly what I did. One day back in December, I made a new intro video to my channel. When I published it, I made a promise to my viewers that every video would get better, and in my opinion they certainly have. Not only the actual video quality, but the meat and potatoes of what I am speaking about as well. I quickly discovered how easy and natural it felt to talk to the camera about hard, basic and sometimes very personal topics.
I figured that since this was another outlet to get my voice out there, that I would take advantage of it and spread some positivity, even if I only had one consistent viewer. I created different special playlists on my channel, in addition the basic tags, challenges, tutorials and vlogs.
"ADVICE": It says it in the title. A playlist where viewers have sent in questions and I try to give advice to the best of my ability. Giving advice is something I have always loved to do for my friends, and now I get to do it for so many others as well.
"READ ME": This was a playlist I created purely to voice some of my work and possibly get some feedback. I am a writer, so in this playlist I actually am reading things from stories I have written, poems, scripts and school work.
Finally my personal favorite playlist I have started "UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE" or "UTB": This is a series of videos where I take certain passages//stories in the bible or take questions received from viewers and I decipher what happened and translate it in a way that young people with modern slang can understand. It has gotten a great response from my viewers, and it has been a wonderful way to share one of the most important things to me: my faith. A way to be a disciple in the modern day.
In my older years I have very much grown into my own and developed a fearless attitude to stand for what I love. Not only has it been wonderful to share a piece of myself with others, but to my surprise my channel has actually gotten wonderful feedback. Although, I am still surprised every time someone mentions that they watch my videos. I have never wanted to come off as fake or scripted. My whole intention is two-fold. First, to be able to have an outlet to express myself and use the videos as a cathartic mechanism to get through things (good & bad) going on in my own personal life, and second, to share with others stories from my own personal experience and the end result, to hopefully spread some hope.
I know to some this all may have just been a bunch of blab, but to me it was just really important that I share my YouTube story in dedication for my viewers. My goal for the year of 2016 was to gain 50 subscribers, and here we are not even half way through the year and I already have almost 20 above my goal for the year! Wow! I am so grateful and blessed for each and every one of you! Thank you for being so loyal and accepting.
To most of you who do not post videos on YouTube, I would just like to say that it is a wonderful experience, and it is just another way to get your voice out there. Don't stay silent, because your voice is worth something. One kind word from you could change the lives of others. That is my ultimate goal, to help others.
